The present invention relates generally to an arrangement of recording and/or reproducing apparatus, such as video tape recorders and rotational head type digital audio tape recorder, in which information signals are recorded or reproduced on or from a tape which is pulled out from a tape cassette and which is wrapped and travelled around a tape guide drum having a transducer for recording and/or reproducing information signals.
An important problem in the recording and reproducing art relates to the need for the portable type recording and/or reproducing apparatus which is small in size in order to provide easy handling and mobility. However, considerable difficulty has been encountered to meet the requirement imposed in small-sized construction because the basic dimension of the recording and/or reproducing apparatus is determined depending upon the diameter of the tape guide drum, the moving range of the tape wrapping device, and size of the tape cassette. One approach involves postioning the tape guide drum as near to the tape cassette as possible, as described in Japanese Patent Provisional No. 59-107446. This technique still does not produce satisfactory results in terms of the size reduction because of the requirement to ensure the moving range of the tape wrapping device.